Urgent appeal

Snehalaya
Jun 10
2 min read

Updated: Jun 13

On 27 May, we were devastated when heavy rains and flooding submerged the Kegaon area of our city, including our Adoption Center, Snehdeep and new Sakhshama project buildings. Fortunately no-one was harmed but the disaster disrupted life completely, leaving many homeless and devastated. The floodwaters also tore down our 230-foot boundary wall, flowing into our facilities washing away valuable belongings—including books, electronics, furniture and more. Many vehicles belonging to Snehalaya and our staff were also critically damaged. The estimated damage is in lakhs.

With years of experience providing emergency support to flood disaster areas, we were able to respond immediately with most of our team taking part in the massive clean-up in the following days quickly restoring hope and ensuring the quick restoration of these vital projects.

We were overwhelmed by the support we received following the news but the work continues and the expenses continue to rise. Among those responding first were the female sex workers we work with. They donated one night's earnings to help reconstruct our Snehankur project. The women pooled their earnings and handed over Rs 13,900 rupees in cash to Balu Warule, our Snehankur project leader.

Speaking on behalf of the women, Latabai Dhakne, member of our Snehjyot project, said: “We are aware that our small help will not help much in a huge disaster, but if people know that we are standing by their side of Snehalaya’s orphaned and children in need of care and protection in a major natural disaster, their morale will increase to face the situation.”

We, as always, are blown away by these women, often ignored and neglected by society, standing with us when we need it most. Jaya Jogdand, our President, added: For the last 25 years, we, the victims of the sex trade, have donated our entire one-day or two-day earnings to the disaster-stricken countrymen in every national and natural disaster. In various natural disasters such as the 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts, the Marathwada and Gujarat earthquakes, the cyclone in Orissa, the tsunami, the suicide of farmers in Vidarbha, the Kargil war, the drought in Maharashtra, we, the victims, have contributed to the best of our ability without anyone demanding or requesting us.” The women have also contributed to the Prime Minister’s Fund, the Chief Minister’s Fund and the auxiliary funds of various newspapers.

You can stand with us and our women by helping us to rebuild and heal.